I Love You?
by twilight princess snow
Summary: For the Golden TMM Awards. Mint is slowly losing her powers, and the only way she can get them back is to find her one true love. But with so many people, can she find the right person?
1. Argue?

Ryou and Keiichiro were sitting in the basement while the girls were taking orders. "this is not good..." Ryou trailed off. they were both looking at the computer screen, and something was wrong. "What if-" Keiichiro started, but was interrupted by a loud crash from upstairs. "I wonder what Lettuce broke this time..."

_Upstairs_

"Lettuce! I can't believe you** DID **this!" Mint screamed as Lettuce desperately tried to clean her up. "Quit! just leave me alone!" she yelled as she ran to the bathroom. Lettuce felt the hot tears flow freely now. "I didn't mean to spill everything on her. I was only trying to-" "What happened?" A very angry Ryou interrupted, seeing the mess on the floor. "Lettuce spilled a tray on Mint na no da." Pudding said, while working the register, and delivering food. Ichigo still wondered how she did that. " It wasn't her fault! she couldn't help the fact that little miss lazy was in her way!" Ichigo said in defense. "Alright everyone, lets all calm down now." Keiichiro said. "Remember-" He whispered. "There are still customers here."

"Well, all I know is that Lettuce should clean this mess up! What exactly happened up here?" Ryou asked. "Well Mint-" Ichigo was cut off. "Not you! Lettuce." Ryou half-yelled. Customers turned to look as they argued, wondering if someone was going to get fired. They looked expectantly as Ryou yelled."Maybe we should close up early."Keiichiro said with a sweatdrop.

After the shop had closed, everyone gathered at a table. "Ok Lettuce. Go ahead and tell us what happened." Zakuro said kindly. "Yes Lettuce. do tell." Mint said in her snobby tone. "Ok, well, I was getting to the table where a family was. The tray was full of things. So as I'm going, I passed Mint. Then, I fell. I guess she tripped me." Lettuce finished nervously, mumbling the last part. "What! I so did not!" Mint yelled. Everyone was looking at her like she was insane. "Ok, what really happened is that, she was walking by me, and she had a tray full of things for a table. When she walked by me, she totally pretended to trip and fall. I know she did it on purpose!" Mint finished.

"Is this true Lettuce?" Ryou asked, looking doubtful. There were a lot of things Lettuce would do, but this was definitely not one."No way! It was an accident, I swear." Lettuce felt the hot tears beginning to come. She blinked them back this time though, and tried to be strong."If Lettuce says it was an accident, I believe her." Zakuro said quietly. "What? How can you take her side?" Mint was yelling now. "It's like your all against me! How can- how can-" Mint stuttered and tears welled up in her eyes. 'No. Don't cry now. Keep it together' She thought. "Mint I'm sorry. It really was an accident! I was just trying to get to the table and I fell! I really am sorry." Lettuce kept repeating over and over again.

"I don't want to hear it." Mint said bluntly. "I can't take anymore of this! I try to work hard here and-" "Wait a minute! You don't do anything but sit on your lazy butt sipping tea like it's the end of the world if you don't have it at exactly the same time every stinking day!" Ichigo interrupted. "**I QUIT**!" Mint yelled, and ran out of the room.

While she yelled, she noticed that everything seemed unimportant now. Her life seemed to have no meaning. As she ran, she saw everything she thought was important flash before her eyes. her clothes, her house, her hair. she was suddenly aware she was crying. She quickly wiped the tears away, thinking about what she would do next.

She ran back to her house, without dropping pace. her eyes were red and swollen, and her breath was ragged. her legs burned from running those painful miles back home. she slowed and walked into the gates of the Aizawa mansion, only to find her brother and father home. ' Oh great. This will be fun!' She thought sarcastically. She walked in the door as her father and brother were leaving. "Hello dear, how was- wait, are you crying?" Her father asked, puzzled. " She is father! She is crying!" Her brother reported. Seeming as though she didn't hear them, Mint walked up to her room, and slammed the door.

'That's strange.' Mint thought. 'There's usually plenty of maids and butlers around. I haven't seen but maybe five or six.' Wondering if something was wrong, she called for all the maids in the household. Then for all the butlers. 'That's odd. This is only about half of how many work here.' She thought. "Maid Sara, where is everyone?" Mint asked a tall, pretty, brown-haired girl, about twenty years of age. "Your father seems to think that very few of us are needed." She spat.

"Oh no!" Mint almost yelled, but stopped herself just in time. 'This is why I don't like coming home. He thinks he can control everything. But he can't. He just can't.' "I'm going to bed." Mint suddenly announced, unaware that it was only about six o clock. "But Miss Aizawa! It's only six o_'_ clock! You simply can't go to bed this early!" Sara cried. "I can and I will." Mint said, slamming the door to her bedroom. "Well that was pleasant." Sara thought with a sweat drop.

Soon after entering her room and laying down, she fell asleep, and began what she thought would be a pleasant dream. Mint was walking in the park, beside a handsome young man. They were holding hands, and Mint was blissfully aware of it. 'This is so nice! But, I wish I knew who he was.' She looked up at him, but couldn't see his face. Suddenly, they came to a humongous cherry tree. In the top branch, a fat, discolored bird sat pompously. It ruffled it's feathers, and waited patiently for Mint to notice it's presence. When she did, it let out a loud squawk. She was instantly reminded of a crow, and thought, 'How ugly!'

Suddenly, everything went black, and shattered into tiny shards. 'What's going on?' Mint panicked, and tried to transform, only to feel sharp pain, shooting through her body. "What's happening?" She screamed. Her body wavered, as though in a haze, and turned half to her mew form, then flickered back. She didn't know what to do, how to stop it, or how to wake up.

Then, everything grew quiet. Mint's screams ceased, and the breaking sound stopped. the only thing left was the bird, and Mint. "Wh-what are you?" Mint asked the bird. "I am me, and I am you. I am your bird genes. I am the reason why you cannot transform." The bird said.

"Well why are you so weak then?" Mint challenged. "I am weak, because you, my dear, have not found your true love." "True love?"


	2. Love

What do you mean, true love?" Mint quoted. "You must find your true love, my dear girl, before the year is up. Just remember, that he will be the one you fall for. Not the one who falls for you!" The birds voice faded, until it was gone. "Before the year is up," she mused. "Wait a minute, oh no! It's already August! But, who would be good enough for me to fall for? After all, I am perfect." She said smugly, before being mauled by her team. (In the dream.) A few hours after Mint had woken up, showered, and gotten dressed, she was bored out of her mind. "What on Earth am I supposed to do now that I quit my job?" She said, frustrated. While she was busy in her room, door locked of course, her brother was sneaking around.

"What can I do today, I wonder?" Seiji pondered, then decided to bug Mint. "It's the perfect plan!" he snickered. So while he was sneaking quietly down the stairs, from his room on the fourth story, Mint was pondering over who her true love was.  
"Who would love me though? I just boss everyone around and do nothing. But the real question is, who do I like? Grr! It's just so confusing! I just don't know what to do!" She moaned, feeling sorry for herself. She leaned back on her bed and reached for the nightstand. She pulled her cellphone off, and dialed the only person she knew she could trust.

Seiji's POV

"All I have to do, is sneak in the window! Or maybe, through the roof! No,what if I just go through the door?" Seiji was planning his day of bugging Mint. So while he was going up the stairs, singing the mission impossible theme song, he thought of what he would say. 'Hey Mint, what are you doing? Can I play in your room? Wait-scratch that last one, it sounds like I'm four!' Seiji walked by Mint's room just as Mint called someone. He heard a "Hello?" and decided to stick around for a minute. "Zakuro, I have a problem." Mint said. 'What could she have a problem with?' Seiji wondered. "Well, Ryou should know by now, Since he's been monitoring us since forever! Will you ask if I can come back to work, I need to tell you guys something important! No, well, I mean-oh just ask!" She yelled into the phone. 'Wait, Mint quit her job? I wonder why. Maybe I can follow her around today and see why!' He thought. "Okay, I'll be there in a minute." Mint said, and hung up. 'I gotta get out of here!' Seiji thought, and sprinted down the stairs and went into the dining room. "This is perfect!" He said aloud before following Mint outside.

Normal POV

While Mint walked the few miles to the cafe, she took note of how crisp the air felt. 'Ahh! This may actually turn out to be a good day! I'm even going on a date- wait, stop right there! I am not going on a date with Zakuro!' She thought, fighting a furious blush. She hadn't noticed Seiji trailing her, and boy was he loud! When the two ( Unkown to one) got to the last corner of the road, Seiji had fallen over a trash can, ran into a mailbox, and walked into a pole! Mint figured that, since she couldn't handle the searing pain of transforming, it wasn't her problem!

About a block away from the cafe, Seiji noticed how dressed up Mint was. 'Wow. She must be on a date! That's why her face was so red a few blocks ago!' Seiji thought.' But who could it be? Her boss?' Seiji remembered her saying something about her boss watching her. He suddenly jumped up from behind the fence, where he was spying on Mint. "This just got interesting..." He said aloud then giggled, waking up a big, black and brown dog in the process. He heard the growl from behind, and turned slowly. The dog was slightly foaming at the mouth, and looked half-crazed. Seiji's eyes became huge. The dog lunged, and Seiji screamed. He ran like a crazy fool to get away from the dog. "HELP!" Seiji shouted. Birds flew from the trees when he screamed.

Mint finally arrived at the cafe after Seiji was attacked. As she stood at the door stoop, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. 'Ok. Zakuro is behind these doors. If anyone is mean, she'll get them. Well, here goes nothing!' Mint thought as she opened the double doors. All work pretty much stopped when Mint walked in. Pudding was on her big blow-up ball, and fell off when Mint walked in. Ichigo was helping Lettuce pick up some shards of a dish she dropped. She looked back at the table where she used to sit, and thought with a pang, 'I miss it here.'  



End file.
